What's Privacy in the Age of Facebook?

Not long ago, a lot of people on Facebook got outraged over the site's new terms of service. The issue? Facebook appeared to be taking control of user content -- wall posts and photos -- and making it more difficult for people who simply wanted to delete their digital history. More than 100,000 users joined the group Against the New Terms of Service.

Facebook, which seems to run into these problems about as often they offer a new service (anyone remember Beacon?), backtracked. "You own your posts," they assured users and then went about fixing the terms of service.

Biz Stone, the cofounder of Twitter, must have been following all of that because when he recently announced new terms of service for Twitter, he went on to assure everyone that "your tweets belong to you, not to Twitter." Still, people are wondering about the new terms at Twitter and what will happen to their tweets, and whether they might get caught in a new form of online advertising.

Make no mistake, this is all about privacy. Not the old-fashioned parchment scroll, carried by courier on horseback from the castle to the king's army. This is modern-day privacy, about digital identity, the control of personal information, and the brewing battle between what we post and its commercial value.

Modern privacy begins with the understanding that personal information will be widely accessible. That's as true for web 2.0 as it was for the early Internet, and for the telephone. It's a paradox to be sure. Someone once said, "we must protect privacy to ensure the free flow of information." That's exactly right.

Think about the cell phone for a moment. It's a device for transferring personal information and it's all about privacy.

Modern privacy is about what happens to information once it's held by others -- whether it's a government agency, a bank, a cell phone company, or a social network site. We give up personal information all the time, but that doesn't end the discussion over privacy. That's where it begins.

Is the government going to use our data as it is supposed to or is it going to spy on us? Does the bank have good security or do we have to worry about breaches? If I give an email address to a cell phone company, am I going to get spammed? And is that quiz that just told me which European capital city I'm most like really trying to figure out who my friends are?

Of course, there is still some interest in secrecy, as just about any parent who has tried to friend their kids on Facebook knows. In fact, everywhere around us, the digital anthropologists will observe, are the cultural artifacts of privacy -- privacy polices on web sites, privacy settings on social network services, privacy features in web browsers and email. What is the purpose of these techniques? To provide people with some control over the information they disclose to others.

Twenty-five years ago there was an online service, based in San Francisco, called The Well. The precursor to Facebook and Twitter, people on The Well were equally funny, serious, and outrageous. Our names reflected our interests. I was "marcindc".

The folks who ran The Well know that success required respecting modern day privacy. The freedom to disclose is based on the freedom to withhold and the freedom to control. The Well's motto? "You own your own words." Not much has changed.

I smile every time someone says, "Privacy is dead" or the "Facebook generation doesn't care about privacy." If there is one issue that people feel passionately about today, that literally unites everyone who goes online, it is the interest in privacy.

And the battle is just beginning.

 

 

Comments

[Kathleen Greenhaw]

Education about privacy definitely is the key. People are often unaware just how much of their data is mined and used by targeted advertising. People also forget that most information you post on social media forums no longer belong to you once it's publicly posted. If people truly want privacy they should make sure that their privacy settings are set high on social media sites, that they use private email providers and that they are careful about what personal info they post about themselves in public places online.

[Christina Lane]

Personally, I think it's time some people took out their garbage…

[SonofLiberty1]

I limit my facebook friends to relatives and to real personal friends from high school and college.

[lriordanseville]

That email from Twitter also caught my eye, and got me thinking about a whole range of things. I posted about it here:

http://blogs.journalism.cuny.edu/interactive2010/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=707

I can't help wondering if there is a divide between a concern about privacy in theory, and the measures we are willing to take to protect our privacy. We may worry effect of a change in terms, but are we willing to take the time to even read the terms, much less understand them?

[AllShookUp]

And people worry about census takers. Let's get serious, there are many more people giving away private and personal information to people they don't know every day. And while Bush was eroding privacy with warrantless wiretaps, people said fine, as long as it catches the bad guys. Definitely the wrong approach.

[apolloguide]

It is really not an issue any longer. There is no privacy. Google bought up the archives of USENET which went back to the early 80's. All of the old conversations were kept and I can still search and find stupid things I said back in 1989 in newsgroups >>before the internet

[JustifiablyParanoid]

Ah yes...all the stupid things one said via the use of a computer. I'm certain these technological histories of ours will come back to bite us in the butt at some point. Something to look forward to.

[nofanofheliumman]

For everyone who thinks it is cool to be on Facebook, I suggest they read the book: "Accidental Billionaires". Facebook is lack of privacy personified and I cannot understand why anyone would want join.

We have so little privacy in communicationing now it is nearly a police state and we the people are the ones who created it by thinking it is cool. It is not cool. Nearly anything you can do on Facebook that is truly important, can be done with email.

[Neophile]

Not that email is all that private

[LewisWalsh]

I wouldn't dream of trusting important information or transacting personal business through these social networks or email. The Postal Service is best for privacy and security. With regular mail, your product cannot be be deleted, distorted or redistributed by some unknown person.

[QuasiEgalitarian]

this sounds like something a supervillian would write. thanks!

[sueno]

Great article! Thanks